chapter 044

The time came March 16, 1998.

Philadelphia.

In a certain crew.

"Gee, unbelievable, unbelievable, Martin, how did you guess the box office trend of this film?"

The fat-headed and big-eared Harvey Weinsta looked at the newspaper and smacked his lips in surprise, and he was also quite surprised to look at Martin's gaze.

Martin shrugged his shoulders, "Intuition! "

Harvey put down the newspaper and said with a smile: "It seems that after our movie is made, we should also ask you to predict the box office, maybe the box office of our movie will also come according to your prediction." They all say that your mouth was kissed by God, and the box office of this big ship has half the credit for you! "

Although Martin knew that this was just Harvey's compliment, he secretly shouted in his heart: Actually, I really can!

Harvey looked out the window, it was raining lightly, but the whole city looked gloomy, and couldn't help sighing

"Seriously, why did you put the story in Philadelphia in the script, isn't it good to put it in Los Angeles?"

Martin also looked at the light rain outside the window and said lightly

"The city has a gloomy temperament that fits well with the tone of the film, something that sunny Los Angeles doesn't have. Actually, I would have preferred to set the story in London, but due to the cost, I chose Philadelphia in the end. "

"Well, you have a point."

Harvey Weinstein, who has not yet begun to expand, is indeed a very good talker.

......

Old houses, old streets, gloomy sky, trees on both sides of the street, inadvertently there will always be a few dead yellow leaves….

Although it is early spring, Philadelphia is still a little cool.

It gives a bleak feeling, like a yellowed old photo.

M. Knight Shamalan stood at the end of the street, looked at the viewfinder in front of him, and nodded slightly, it felt good here.

M. Knight Shyamalan is an Indian-American screenwriter and producer.

Born on August 6, 1970, M. Knight Shyamalan in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India, moved to the United States with his parents at an early age, and grew up in the Payne Valley, a wealthy suburb of Philadelphia.

At the age of eight, after watching "Indiana Jones", Shamalan idolized Steven Spielberg and determined to be a director.

That same year, his father gave him an eight-millimeter camera as a birthday present.

By the time he was fifteen, he had shot forty-five short films with the camera and was writing feature-length scripts.

In 1989, Shyamalan was admitted to the film department of New York University.

In 1992, after completing his film studies at New York University, Shyamalan made his first work, "Angry Prayer," with $750,000 sponsored by his family, about his return to India to visit his birthplace.

After that, Shamalan devoted himself to Hollywood and began his hard work in this world film mecca.

After directing two independent films, his abilities were quickly appreciated by studios.

Well, of course, his family's financial support behind it is also indispensable.

Well, maybe the latter is the main thing.

In 1996, the first theatrical film directed by Shyamalan was released, "The Little Ghost Basket", which tells the story of a Catholic student who traces the cause of his grandfather's death.

The reputation of the movie is acceptable, as for the box office, it is difficult to say.

From the title, this film seems to be a joyful comedy like "Home Alone", but it is actually a philosophical film, although there are some comedy elements, but there are too many private goods carried by Shamalan in the film, which makes the finished film seem a little unusual.

As a result, the film grossed only $258,000 at the box office, while the film invested $5.5 million, but most of it was invested by the Shamalan family.

The failure of this film almost made Shamalan think that his Hollywood directing career was coming to an end, but he suddenly received a call from Miramax's boss, who wanted to give him a new job as a loser.

But when he saw the script of the movie, he was shocked.

The content of this script is so similar to the inspiration he had when filming "Little Ghost Basket", a suspenseful ghost film with family ethics and affection!

And the author of the script is the now red hot little genius of the United States – Martin Meyers.

Of course, he didn't suspect that Martin had plagiarized, because his inspiration was still in his head and had not yet fallen on paper.

He just chalked it up to inspiration crashing.

At the same time, I also feel that I may have a secret fate with this story.

Otherwise, why would Martin appoint himself as a loser to direct the film?

Of course, Martin will look for him, because M. Knight Shyamalan is the screenwriter and director of the film in the original timeline.

Using the original cast is the only choice to ensure that the film is as successful as possible.

For example, the male protagonist of the movie, Martin, recommended Bruce Willis.

At that time, Harvey Weinstein was still hesitant to use an action superstar like Bruce Willis to play such a warm role whether it would make people play, but at Martin's insistence, he still compromised.

Fortunately, Bruce Willis's performance during the shooting was satisfactory.

"Well, this is it, that's the angle, let the actors take their places."

M. Knight Shamalan shouted.

This shot was to be shot with Melcan, a psychiatrist played by Bruce Willis, walking through the street.

Although it was just a simple walk, it allowed people to see what is actor-level acting skills, and after a few simple test shoots, Bruce Willis quickly found the state.

Bruce Willis's acting skills are definitely underestimated, perhaps because he often plays tough guy roles, which covers up his delicate acting skills under his tough appearance, especially this one's eyes, which are very dramatic.

The "Die Hard" series made Bruce Willis and limited him.

After the release of this movie, the acting skills of the male protagonist Bruce Willis – were criticized as "lack of resilience", "bland", "only suitable for acting in TV series" and so on.

The above is quite polite.

The most caustic criticism, "Bruce Willis taking off his undershirt is the whole demonstration of his acting skills." "

But in fact, Bruce Willis's acting skills are definitely Oscar-level, which can be seen from "Pulp Fiction" and "Twelve Monkeys".

Of course, this "Sixth Sense" is also included.

"cut! Very good! "

M. Knight Shamalan clapped his hands vigorously, looking at the close-up of Bruce Willis in the camera, and the gloomy eyes were very satisfying to him.

"Ten minutes off."

Although the spring in Philadelphia still has the coolness of winter, the styling of Bruce Willis' coat + scarf still made him sweat after the shooting was completed.

"Little genius, do a good job." Bruce Willis gave Martin an encouraging high five as he passed him.

"Big man, well done." Martin replied with a compliment.

The two have a good relationship on the set.